ICC PLANNING TO REVIEW BOUNDARY COUNTBACK RULE WHICH KNOCKED NEW ZEALAND OUT OF THE WORLD CUP?

International Cricket Council’s (ICC) General Manager Geoff Allardice, on Monday, said that the Anil Kumble-led Cricket Committee will discuss various issues in connection with the World Cup Finale, including the Boundary Countback rule, in its next meeting which is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.

“The Cricket committee will consider any issues arising from the World Cup final when it next meets”, Allardice was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Speaking about the Boundary Countback rule, he said, “A Super Over has been used to determine a winner in a tied match in ICC events since 2009 and the tiebreaker after a tied Super Over needed to be derived from something that happened in that particular match. So it has always related to the number of boundaries scored in the match.”

Recently ended World Cup marked the most unusual nail biting finale with both the teams, New Zealand and England, ending up in a tie, not only in the regulation play but also in the following Super Over. However, eventually England was declared winners based on the most number of  boundaries. England’s 26 boundaries knocked the Blackcaps, who had only 17 boundaries to their name, out of the game. While one third of the game’s fans went with the ICC rules and seconded the decision, the rest did not get convinced and questioned the morality behind ‘Boundary Countback rule.” Some even said that the World Cup should have been shared between both the teams for their equal efforts.

On a related note, Umpire Kumar Dharmasena later admitted that he made an umpiring error in the final over of the regulation play by awarding an extra run to England.